Frogless switch



. bentoutwardly each to align with the op Patented Dec.- 18,

JOHN ASH sm'eELLiron,

or COLUMBUS, OHIO, ASSIGNOR or oNE-FoumrirTojLELAnn s. DOUGAN, or COLUMBUS, 01:10.9 I

; FROGLESS swrron.

Application mar-Fe ruar 17, 1928. Serial No. 255,100.

The invention generally relates toturn outs for guiding railroad and railway rollingstock during transfer of the samefrom one trackway onto or over another in its course over the roadbed and primarily has for its object to provide, for use in such turnouts, a frogless switch designed to eliminate the danger of derailment andthe shocks and noise incident to the passing of the wheels over the switch frog. 7 i

It is at present customary to provide'in every turnout switch a frog or combination of-i-ails arranged for the designed purpose of providing, as nearly as is possible,'a surface on which the broad tread of the wheel may always roll and a channel through which the wheel flange may pass, this equipment being at present necessary at each place where two rails intersect in acute angular relation. Such frogs each include a tongue which terminates in an actual point and the sides. orlateral edges which connect with and form continuations of the intersecting rails, (wing rails) one of which parallels each lateral edge of the tongue in spaced'relation to providelwheel.

flange passing grooveways and to constitute lateral uards and which are again posite lateral edge of the tongueand to provide therebetween the frog throat through which the wheel flange passes-in approaching or leaving the actual tongue point. I I

In the necessary provision in the switch frogs of the intersecting flange passing grooveways, an interval is made necessary during which the wheel is not supported in passing over the frog, and a wheel must jump the gap between the actual point of the tongue to the wing rail portion defining the frog throat. At this interval the wheel violently strikes the rail at the other side of the gap and distributes vio lent shocks and jarsto the trackage and rolling stock, and'to assure any degree of safety during this moment of non-support guard rails must be provided, in addition to the wing rails, one inside and paralleling each out-side rail of the merging tracks.

In its more detailed nature therefore, it

7 is the purpose of my invention to provide as a substitute for the conventional frog a shiftable rail pivoted at the point of intersection of the rails and shiftable to align actual point 4. I

the proper one of the intersecting rails with its extensionpthe said rail being properly associated with the switch proper to be I shifted simultz'ine'ously' therewith, thereby assuring smooth and safe passage'of the wheels over the intersecting rails without I the necessity of wing ,rail or guard rail equipment. l

' Vith the above and other objects in that will hereinafter appear, the invention further resides in" the noveldetails of con-1 struction, combination and arrangement of parts, all of which will be first fully de scribed in the following detailed description, then be particularly pointed out in the appended claim, reference being-had to the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic plan view illustrating the invention 'iu'use. FigureQ is an enlarged plan view of the base plate and rail sections forming the frog supplanting portion. of the invention.

Figure 3 is a longitudinal section taken,

on the line 3-3 of Figure'Q. 1

Figure 4 is a cross section taken on the line li- 4 of Figure 2f I j Figure 5v is a diagrammatic plan View illustrating a conventional f frog equipped turnout. Figure 6 is an enlarged diagrammatic plan view illustrat ng a conventional frog.

In the drawing, in Figure 5,a conven tional frog equipped turnout is-shown and in this illustration the straightway track rails proper are indicated'lat 1 and the inerging or turn tracks proper arc/indi cated at 2., The adjacent "or inside. rails intersect to form the tongue 3 of a frog and 'the said tongue terminates in "the tongue edge opposite that withwhich-it has previously been in parallelrelation and to provide the frog throat 8.

By reference to the said Figure 5 and especially to Figure 6 in which an enlarged view of the conventional frog is disclosed, it will be observed that a gap 9 is provided over the theoretical point of the frog, in

'which gap a wheel, in assing over from the aptualy oint fd to t 9 ing will" BK? tensions at t e thr-oat, has no support and tends to drop down into the area approachin thethroatc his area of non-suppmit causes. the wheel to forcibly crash against the actual point or the wing rails at the throat, depending on its direction of travel, with re sultant excessive jar and shock distribution tn the trackage and r lling k, nd u h noise. Furthermore, because of the great dangers of derailment during this moment of non support, outer guard rails 10 must G be provided paralleling the outside rails 1 and 2, to! gnard against such derailment tendencies.

In the said conventional turnout the wing mill extensions continue to merge with the switch points 11 which are rigidly connected at l2'to be moved in unison by any suitable switch shifting mechanism generally indi-v cated M 13. a

In l ig lliefl 1 t0 4 I have illustratedmy invention, which is designed to overcome the structural objections enumerated above and to render unnecessary the employment of guard and wing rails, and consequently effects economies in rail construction in addition to the provision of safety factors.

In the frogless turnout shown in Figure 1 the straight trackways proper are indicated at 14 and the merging or turn rails proper at 15.

The rails of the trackways 14 and 15 which merge to intersect are suitably secured to the tongue or point 16 which is preferably cast integrally with the base member 11, which said base also has the snaced continuation rail sections or ends 18 cast thereon, (see Figures 1 and, 2);

To the extensions. 18 the switch point rails 19 are connected, and the said switch points are seeured together to move in unison by the connector 20.

A shiftable rail section 21 is pivoted at 22 upon the base to form a continuation of the tongue 16 with its free end shiftable to align with one Or the other of the extension rails 18 according to the position to which the switch points 19 areshifted, Thehfree end of the rail section 21is pin and arcuate In order to )rovide for shifting of the swing rail section 16 in combination with the main switch points 19, the free end of the said rail is connected by the shifter bar 26 to a crank rocker rod 27 which effects the shiftin of the main switch points- 1-9 through the thrust connection 29. The rod 27 may be rocked to effect the desired simultaneous shifting of the switch ints B and swing rail section, 21 by 33y suitable niechanisin enerally designat 30.

In t e foregoing deseription I have disclosed a particularly simple turnout embracing a, frogless switch in which smooth, safe, and practically noiseless travel of the wheels over the intersecting rails is provided for without the need ofwmg rails or guard rails.

From the fore oning description, taken in connection wit the accompanying draw- 111 COIlSlZI'UCtlQII, the manner of use and the advantages of my invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention relates,"

What I claim is: l

In railroad turnoutsthe combination with the intersecting rails and their extensions leading to, switch points, of a pivoted rail section shiftable to align it thought that the novel details" of a selected intersec-ting rail with its extension, a longitudinal stop lug extendingapproniinately the full length of the shiftable rail section and closely adjacent the said section at each Side of its pivoted end and adapted to liinit movement of the shiftable section at each rail extension aligning position, said lugs being reduced in heighttoward their ends adjlacent the pivoted end of the shiftable rai section to permit; free passage of wheel flanges thereover.

JoHNasnsiNe-nLLrou; 

